Role playing and hypnotic susceptibility in children: II. An extension and partial replication

Abstract

34 children, 7 to 12 years old, received 2 role-playing tests in 1 session and the Children's Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (CHSS) of London (1962a) 1 week later. Performances were compared to a previous sample of 42 children who had received the same tests in reverse order of administration. Means of the role test were essentially the same in both samples. 1 of the role tests, Dramatic Acting, was unrelated to hypnotic susceptibility in both samples; the other, Hypnotic Simulation, was uncorrelated with overall susceptibility in the present sample, unlike the previous one, but seems to have inhibited 1 aspect (Subjective Involvement scores) of performance on the CHSS. Order of administration of the simulation test and CHSS also differentially affected some Overt Behavior item scores; CHSS functioned as a rehearsal for the subsequent simulation performances of low-susceptibles, and the simulation test had the same function for the CHSS performances of high-susceptibles.